


All the Time in the World

by Elsie_Snuffin



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Meredith is growing as a human being, Oneshot, Short & Sweet, fluffy fluff, post 15x23
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 02:41:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18769543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsie_Snuffin/pseuds/Elsie_Snuffin
Summary: Andrew Deluca, who has been nothing but kind and sweet and almost unrealistically good, just said those three little words. I love you. And what did Meredith do? Reply “oh. Glad we cleared that up,” nod at him, and run away.She might as well have added in some finger guns.





	All the Time in the World

**Author's Note:**

> My god, I never thought I would write another Grey’s fic, much less post it, much less one that isn’t strictly Meredith/Derek. I don’t even really watch anymore. Between Derek’s death and season 15, I haven’t watched or even particularly cared (because Cristina didn’t fly back to Meredith after Derek died? Really?!). I would occasionally poke my head in to the Grey’s universe to see how my girl Meredith was doing. I wasn’t a fan of Riggs. I watched the episode where Scott Speedman guest-starred because I love him. And when I heard about this Meredith-Deluca-Link triangle, I wanted to check it out (and see what Chris Carmack looks like now compared to when he spoke the immortal “Welcome to the OC, bitch” on The OC back in the day). And as it turns out, I have a huge old crush on Deluca and I think he is worthy of Meredith. So here we are.
> 
> Oh god, and if you’re here because you’re hoping I’ll write another NCIS fic or finish In Between Days, I’m sorry but it’s not likely. Maybe someday, I’ll rewatch the Ziva years and get inspired but unless they actually get Cote de Pablo back on the show, it probably won’t happen.

Crap. 

Crap crap crap. 

Andrew Deluca, who has been nothing but kind and sweet and almost unrealistically good, just said those three little words. I love you. And what did Meredith do? Reply “oh. Glad we cleared that up,” nod at him, and run away. 

She might as well have added in some finger guns. 

What she really wants to do is go home and never show her face again, but she can’t because she’s mid-shift and she has a scared little girl who needs post-op care. But she needs some silence so she can think and so she goes to her refuge, her lab. 

It’s really convenient that she has a little sanctuary where quiet is expected, where she’s allowed to sit and think and interns know better than to interrupt her. 

I love you.

She has no idea what to make of his declaration. Old Meredith would have run away. Which, okay, is technically what she did. But Old Meredith wouldn’t have stopped there. Old Meredith would have broken up with him or, even better, pushed him away until he broke up with her. She doesn’t feel the urge to do either of those things, and so she’ll consider it a win. She is growing. 

Okay, so what does she feel exactly? 

Mostly that it’s too soon for bold declarations. They haven’t been dating for very long, not really. He just met her kids and while that went really well, she isn’t sure they’re at the “I love you” stage yet.

But.

She leans back in her chair. She and Derek had only been dating a few months when she told him she loved him in that big “pick me, choose me, love me” moment right before he left her to try to make things work with Addison. She can’t remember how many months in that was. 

And really? Why is she comparing timelines? Every relationship is different. She knows this.

Does she think she’s unworthy of love? No, she’s over that. She has the love of her kids and her sisters and her family and she deserves that love. She’s the sun, dammit.

Does it bother her that he feels that way? Well, no, he’s entitled to feel however he wants. And he doesn’t need her permission for emotion. God knows he’s the first man she’s dated who feels the need to share his emotions as much as he does. She figures it’s part of his Italian charm and just who he is in general. And it’s refreshing, it really is. The only time she really hasn’t known where she stood with him was when he was mad about his dad and she had told him that she had neither the time nor the energy to waste on such uncertainty.

So what is it?

Maybe it’s the easy way he said it. Just a slight pause and then out with it. Her insides melt a little at the way his voice deepened and he looked at her so earnestly. It wasn’t some grand gesture and she doesn’t even think that he was necessarily expecting her to say it back. If anything, it seemed like he was hoping it wouldn’t cause her to run away from their relationship.

She literally ran away though, so maybe she needs to find him to clear him up on that point. 

But is she at the point where she wants to say it back? She doesn’t think she is yet. And maybe that was why she ran. He’s there and she’s not and it became extremely apparent in that moment and so she left to avoid the inherent awkwardness.

And probably made it more awkward in the process.

Is it possible she’s just too old for all of this?

She sighs and is about to drop her head onto the table in front of her when she hears footsteps at the lab door. 

And of course it’s him.

He lingers in the doorway and tells her that Gabby is doing fine and he paged an oncologist. She nods and thanks him for the update. 

He stands there, hands in his lab coat pockets, and just gazes at her. She can’t read his expression, so she doesn’t know if he’s mad or sad or wondering what he’ll have for dinner. 

She raises her eyebrows and eventually says, “So…”

He takes that as invitation to step further into the lab, closer to her. “So I said a thing,” he says. “And then you ran.” He doesn’t sound upset about it. If anything, he sounds amused.

“First I was awkward, then I walked away. Swiftly,” she amends. 

At that, he sighs, then smiles in that way of his that lets her know that everything is still okay between them. “I’m sorry I made you feel awkward,” he says. “I wasn’t trying to scare you or force your hand or anything.”

“I know,” she replies, and she does know. He never forces her to do anything.

He walks over to lean against the cabinets behind her. She turns her chair to face him. “It’s just how I feel, and I don’t expect or need you to say it back right now because then it’s like you’re just saying it because I said it first and I don’t want to put you in that position. And anyways, it’s weird that as a society, we’ve turned it into a thing that needs a song and a dance and a grand gesture.”

She smiles at his rambling. “I know.”

“You’re not freaking out?” he asks, dark eyes searching her face for any hints.

“No,” she replies. “I mean, I was surprised because I thought you were mad at me for implicating you in insurance fraud. And that’s why I got awkward.” She takes a deep breath and continues, because why not. “I’m not going to say it back. At least, not yet. I don’t know when I’ll get there but I know that I won’t not get there. It’s just. Things have happened to me. A lot of things. Weird and crazy and wonderful and terrible things and I just - I need more time. And I don’t know how much time it’ll be but I promise I’m not running and-.” She stops when she sees his smile turn into a full-on grin. “What?”

He tries and fails to temper his grin. “You’re rambling as much as I usually do.”

She playfully glares at him. “It’s your fault! You rubbed off on me.”

At those words, he cocks his head in that familiar way. “I rubbed off on you,” he says, his voice softening. Then he breaks a rule that is getting increasingly hard for Meredith to enforce and leans down to kiss her. 

And she lets him.

END.


End file.
